April 8, 2018

Baptisms by Immersion!

We have had another amazing week. Week before last we enjoyed a very busy time as we reported in our last letter because the local congregations were celebrating their Easter week vacation and the youth were here in abundance while they were out of school. Little did we know that in Bavaria and points around, they celebrate their Easter break during the following week, or the week just passed. So once again it was a very busy week with the sessions filled up and many coming to the temple. I think for most, it was also the stimulating experiences of General Conference as well that kept them all enthused.

As I think we reported, we have been given the new assignment to be coordinators in the baptistry. We fortunately had trainers in the Ashby’s, who have had much experience doing what they have now taught us to do. Tuesday was a bit easier as the baptistry was running a pretty normal schedule which did not include more than about 10-15 young people in two sessions and we had the Ashby’s to kind of show us the ropes. But then the training was largely over as we had the Munich stake appear on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with 60 young people which they divided up into groups of 20 for three sessions each day, 8-10+, 11-1, and 1-3. It wasn’t a bad way to really get started as their Stake President, Pres. Auras, was present and had things really ready to go.  We really were blessed to follow the Ashby’s for the first session and then handled the second session pretty much by ourselves. The next day was the reverse as we had the first and third sessions and the Ashby’s took the middle session.

  

The work really involves getting all the temple recommends signed in, then getting the baptismal clothing signed out and the kids gathered in the font area ready to go. Munich had witnesses, recorders, baptizers and confirmers all ready to go. It was really neat to see the many priests assigned to participate both as baptizers and as witnesses though the confirmations were still in the hands of the Melchizedek priesthood holders. At the beginning of each session, our temple president, President Erlacher would usually greet them and offer a spiritual thought. If he occasionally wasn’t available, one of his counselors would fill in. Our assignment was to instruct them on how to handle their wet clothing as they left the font and also give them instructions as to how to hold their hands and arms to best avoid not being fully immersed and repeating a few ordinances. There’s always a good spirit present in the work and we frequently had occasion to offer a few remarks at the end of a session after everyone was back dressed in their Sunday clothes and had completed all of the confirmations. I enjoyed talking to them about the Lord’s comments to Nicodemus about needing to be born again, the symbolism of baptism and occasionally the covenants of baptism that we renew each Sunday with the sacrament.

So, by Friday we were feeling like we were really ready to go as Munich was finishing up their last session from 1-3 PM. Fridays are usually our busiest days as we normally finish the last endowment session around 3:30-4PM and then have a couple of hours free time until starting the only evening session of the week at 6 PM. So we were taken a little aback when we saw that the Nurnberg Stake had scheduled 50 youth for Friday evening and Saturday morning. It was very obvious that we couldn’t handle 50 youth at a time, so the presidency wisely decided they would break them up into two groups of 25 each and have the first group start at 4 PM with the second half starting at 6.  That gave us virtually no time for a break at all but we just kept plugging along.  That did have one advantage as you’ll read below. The fun thing about the Nurnberg group was that in the first session they had many, virtually all of the young people who spoke or understood English. They wanted to use the English ordinance cards and although we were getting pretty tired by that time, having reported to the temple at about 6:50 AM that morning, it turned out to give us a nice break being able to speak in our native language and not struggle to say it right in German. It went very well but we still weren’t done until about 9 PM that night. That’s a long 14-hour day!  Along the way, as we were still alternating with the Ashby’s they asked us to serve at the end of the endowment sessions or help with initiatories.

  

A couple that really befriended us and with whom we became quite close were the Bonners. They were scheduled to leave tomorrow, however Sister Bonner’s father is 99 years old and was apparently not doing very well with everyone expecting him to pass away at any time. She felt it was important to try and get home while he was still alive so left on a quick flight out of Prague on Friday with the report from her husband that she arrived home in time to be with her father who was still alive as of today. Elder Bonner will still leave tomorrow afternoon from Dresden, our normal airport, with a long layover in Amsterdam and then arrive home on Tuesday. They live in Midway (perhaps the Clarks might know them, Larry and Ellen) and are being replaced by good friends they knew prior, the Linfords, Joe and Lani. We may have mentioned the Linfords previously as the ones with whom we will be sharing our car, halving our expenses.  I’ve included a photo at a welcome/farewell party we had a week ago with the Bonners on the left and the Linfords on the right. (I’ve also included a photo of our anniversary presents from the Ratskeller restaurant with the two fancy Easter eggs and a chocolate acknowledging Sisi, the empress we got acquainted with while we were in Vienna.

We understood that today would not be Fast and Testimony meeting because they were only going to have Sacrament meeting and then show the Sunday afternoon session of Conference. When we arrived, we found out it was Fast Sunday. We hadn’t fasted but figured, as noted above, that we made up for it on Friday when our schedule began at 7 AM and didn’t finish up until 9 PM with no break. At any rate, it was Fast Sunday, but they invited Elder Bonner to bear his departing testimony, along with the Linfords to give us their greeting testimonies. There wasn’t a lot of extra time as they concluded the meeting 15 minutes early in order to start the General Conference session at the beginning of the hour. Although we stayed up to see the session, we thoroughly enjoyed it again, especially not being quite so tired as we were late Sunday night last week.Then finally today we took the opportunity to hear the Easter presentation of the Tab Choir’s Messiah with two other couples and our temple matron, Sister Erlacher. We cut the intermissions short and did it in just a little over two and a half hours but enjoyed it thoroughly.

The final new event was attending a beautiful wedding reception for the daughter of our temple recorder, Brother Schoenherr, and her new husband.  He is a convert to the church of about 7-8 months, so they won’t be sealed until his year is up, but it was quite an event with a real feast offered to all attendees. We were truly impressed at the whole undertaking and had a delightful time visiting with the members and the other temple workers in attendance.

We understand all the vacations are over and we should return to a more normal schedule in the coming week. We anticipate that we might have much more time available to actually participate as patrons in a few more activities.  According to “Rohlfings Down Under”, Uncle Tom and Aunt Laurel are departing this next week for a little tour of Sydney and New Zealand, arriving home by the 22nd and giving their homecoming report on the 29th. Sorry we can’t be there, but it sounds like their mission has been truly wonderful.

         Mom:  Changes are always inevitable and certainly a good way to keep us flexible. I have truly enjoyed working with the veils and endowments, etc. It was my special place in the temple to take care of, as Samuel did in ancient times.  Now coordinating baptisms has become our new adventure. When you have 25 youth lined up for clothing, it becomes quite a massive effort to get it all right, from quite small to very tall. I’m getting pretty good at guessing sizes by looking at their body size, and they are all good sports about it.

          Baptisms and confirmations are very sacred ordinances and the youth are very reverent, some bringing their own scriptures and others use temple scriptures while they wait. I was impressed the other day while one of the counselors gave the spiritual talk on D&C 138:15. He explained that their past ancestors were filled with joy and rejoicing because their day of deliverance was at hand as the scripture states. He went on to say each time they were being baptized for an ancestor they should repeat their name in their minds and remember that this is their day of joy and rejoicing and they would spiritually feel this joy. He added that when they themselves were having a difficult day or time, that they should again think on this joy and rejoicing of this ancestor and it would help them feel the spirit and be able to receive spiritual help. I had never thought on this scripture this way and I am sure that it could be applied to all ordinances, as we often have spiritual experiences as we do them. I encourage us all to take it one step further and apply it to our difficult times, and experience that spiritual joy again.

    Missing you all and hoping spring has really arrived as it is beginning to bud and flower here. We can finally enjoy our walks without freezing wind. I rejoice in your goodness.

       Love, Hugs, and Prayers, 

Grammy, Grampa, 

Mom, Dad, 

Elder and Sister Parker